Since December, David Harvey has been on the court, volunteering as a basketball coach for the Richmond Youth Sports League’s Timberwolves. Assisting his brother-in-law, who is the head coach of the team of boys ranging from 12-14 years old, Harvey showed the children a thing or two about the game, helped during practices and cheered them on as they scored for the team.

No one knew Harvey, 34, was a non-compliant sex offender.

No one knew he had served a prison term for attempted murder.

It wasn’t until a 14-year-old team member came home with a bruise after a night of ball practice that the child’s parents started asking questions.

“He choked him,” alleged Roy Peters, the juvenile’s father. “It happened in basketball practice at Mayfield Elementary. Something happened, he didn’t do something right and (the juvenile) threw the ball to him (Harvey). I guess the guy took it like he was throwing it at him and he grabbed him and choked him.”

The head coach was busy taking care of other matters, Peters said, and did not witness the alleged altercation. However, Peters said several of his son’s teammates were in the gym at the time of the incident and saw what took place.

“He was all right, but he was upset about it,” Peters said. “He had a great big, huge bruise.”

Richmond Police were called to the Peters’ Race Street home on Feb. 22 following the incident.

“The juvenile advised that during the RYSL basketball practice that one of his coaches, David Harvey, assaulted him,” said RPD Sgt. Willard Reardon, public affairs officer for the department. “He advised they had a physical altercation. The juvenile had a bluish bruise on the center of his right tricep.”

Harvey told police he was aware of allegations that he had bruised and choked the child, but he denied them, Reardon said.

“He advised the only thing that he did was escort him from the gym,” Reardon said, “that he did have ahold of his arm, but he did not choke him or anything.”

Both parties were advised to take up the matter with the Madison County Attorney’s office, Reardon said, which is procedural when there are conflicting reports and an officer did not witness the event. Peters said he promptly filed a complaint with the county attorney and Harvey was charged with fourth-degree assault (minor injury).

Criminal history unfolds

Just how Harvey’s history as a sex offender came to light in respect to the assault charges is unclear. Peters said he did not know his son’s coach had been convicted of a sexual crime prior to the incident.

Nonetheless, a North Carolina sexual offender registry confirmed that Harvey was convicted of second-degree rape in 1995.

“This morning he came to my office and said he had found out he needed to register in Kentucky as a sex offender, that he didn’t know that,” said Madison County Sheriff Nelson O’Donnell. “I called probation and parole and sent him there to register.”

According to the North Carolina Department of Corrections (NCDOC) Web site, Harvey was convicted of second-degree rape on July 11, 1995, in Onslow County, N.C. The Web site also lists that Harvey was convicted the same day for first-degree attempted murder, a charge which originated the same September day in 1994 as the rape charge.

Upon conviction, Harvey was sentenced to a prison term of 15 years — three years for attempted murder and 12 years for rape. But just five years later in August 2000, Harvey was paroled and released from prison, according to the Web site.

“He committed the crime just six days before a new law took effect,” said NCDOC Public Affairs Officer George Dudley. “Under the new law, he would have served more than five years. Much more.”

Effective Oct. 1, 1994, the structuring of sentencing laws changed in North Carolina, Dudley said. Even though Harvey was sentenced after the law changed, he was, in effect, “grandfathered in” by the conviction date, making him eligible for parole, Dudley said.

“As to why the numbers are the way they are, I can’t say,” he said. “You’d have to talk to the courts.”

According to the North Carolina sexual offender registry, Harvey’s last registered address was in Tampa, Fla. He had not registered as a sex offender in Kentucky until Wednesday, when Probation and Parole Officer Jarrod Elkins confirmed Harvey registered and his information was sent on to Kentucky State Police.

Background never checked

The first question on a coach’s application to volunteer for the Richmond Youth Sports League is, “Have you been convicted of a federal offense or drug- or alcohol-related charges within the past five years?” said RYSL President Jerry Brandenburg.

“We try to screen them,” he said. “We do take applications on our coaches. We get local references and we try to contact the ones we don’t know,” Brandenburg said. “Most of our coaches are parents. We have five or six people over this league. We just don’t have the manpower to do complete checks, which I guess we are going to have to start doing.”

Brandenburg has served as president of the organization for about a year, but said in the 20 years the organization has been serving local children, this is the first incident of its kind.

“That’s, as far as I know, what we’ve always done,” Brandenburg said of the RYSL standing background check policies. “I’m sure we will have to re-do this or go a little deeper than we have been.”

Although the team was playing on basketball courts at Mayfield Elementary, Acting Madison County Superintendent Glenn Marshall said the school system has no real involvement with the league.

“They use our facilities and basically that’s it,” Marshall said. “We charge them for the use. It’s a parent-led type organization.”

The school system and league have a long-standing relationship with one another, Marshall said, and background checks have never been procedurally in place.

“It’s an after-school activity,” he said. “But it is something we will have to look at and revisit obviously. It’s just like whenever anyone rents our facility. To require a background check of all family reunions and church groups and all those people that use those facilities, that might be a little cumbersome. But logically, on a regularly scheduled activity like that, we may wish to consider that.”

Marshall said state law provides that all teachers working in the building with children must have background checks, but it has never been a requirement with other adults using the building after school hours.

“It’s a great organization,” Marshall said of the RYSL. “It’s a shame they have had something like this happen. It’s a very good program. There are a lot of dedicated people who work in it.”

The assault case

Harvey was scheduled to appear for arraignment at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday morning in Madison District Court. When he didn’t show, Madison District Judge William Clouse issued a bench warrant for his arrest for failing to appear.

“He didn’t know there was a warrant until he got that (the sex offender registration) taken care of and went to court and found out there was an FTA warrant,” O’Donnell said. “He said his attorney told him if he showed up with $250 at his office he wouldn’t have to go. He said that’s what he did, only to find out there was a warrant out on him.”

Harvey did appear for court at 1:30 p.m., at which time Attorney Wes Browne said there may have been some confusion about the morning appearance. Browne told Clouse that Harvey had talked to him about hiring him in his case and instead of going to court, Harvey had stopped by Browne’s office Wednesday morning. Harvey was under the impression that Browne would enter a not guilty plea on his behalf, Browne explained.

“It was an honest mistake,” he said.

Browne suggested the court continue Harvey’s arraignment while he seeks other counsel. Browne did not say why he would not represent Harvey in the future and said following the hearing that he had no comment about the case because he was not Harvey’s attorney.

The arraignment was rescheduled for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in Madison District Court. Harvey has not been detained and no bond has been set. Fourth-degree assault is a misdemeanor charge, punishable upon conviction by up to one year in jail and a possible fine.

Harvey refused to speak to media following his court appearance.

Kelly Foreman can be reached at kforeman@richmondregister.com or 624-6694.